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UK cosmetics firm Lush says ‘nay, palm’

Palm oil has made its way into countless processed foods, soaps and cosmetics. It is also used to make ‘biofuel’ and even napalm – the gelled gasoline used to horrifying effect during the Vietnam War.

Now palm oil is engaged in another war – a war of the environment. Palm oil cultivation often destroys vital natural resources via the utilization of slash and burn agriculture and rainforest clearing in Indonesia and Malaysia. This type of cultivation not only results in the loss of habitats for many species including vulnerable Sumatran tigers and orangutans, but the burning of the forests releases high levels of black carbon (soot) and CO2. The palm plantations do not provide the same rich ecosystems nor sequester the same amount of carbon as the rainforests they replace. When peat forests or bogs are drained to make way for palm oil plantations, even more CO2 is released than with rainforest deforestation, not to mention the resultant acidification of local waterways.

Lush, a prominent natural cosmetics company based in Dorset, UK, is joining the fight. Though Lush still uses palm oil in some of its products, the environmentally conscious soap-makers have come up with an alternative; a mixture of ‘sunflower oil, rapeseed oil and coconut oil with sodium hydroxide and water’. I hope they still smell and look good enough to eat.

Greenfudge editor and London-based writer Graham Land grew up in the suburbs of Washington, DC, where he was part of the local hardcore punk scene, playing in several bands. Through this musical movement he became involved in grass roots interests such as anti-racist activism, animal rights and Ecology. In 2000 he relocated to Europe, eventually earning an MA from Malmö University in Sweden. He has also lived in Japan, Ireland, Portugal and Greece.

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Greenfudge is a European environmental news portal dedicated to covering
environmental news from around the world from a European perspective.
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